VIII. THE ELEATIC SCHOOL: MELISSOS.

Melissos of Samos, son of Ithagenes, was a contemporary of Zeno, though he may have been slightly younger. Parmenides is said to have been his teacher, and it is possible that he may have made the acquaintance of Herakleitos. According to Diogenes, he was a respected statesman, and there seems to be good evidence (Plutarch, Perikles 26, after Aristotle) that he commanded the Samian fleet at its victory over the Athenians, 440 B.C. He wrote a book which later writers refer to under various titles.

Literature: The fragments are treated by Brandis, Commen. Eleat. iii. and by Mullach de Melisso X. G. p. 80; Pabst, de Meliss. Fragmentis, Bonn 1889, disputes the authenticity of Fr. 1-5. Spalding, Vindic. philos. Megar. Berlin 1793, first showed that the first two chapters of the book called de Xenophane, Zenone, Gorgia, refer to Melissos. Cf. also Fr. Kern, Zur Würdigung des Melissos, Festschrift d. stettin. Stadtgym. 1880.

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